
Class 

Book 



IIST MEMOM-A-M. 



DISCOURSE h: 



ON THE ASSASSINATION OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 



HtMtxA of the %bM $ tatcs 



DELIVERED Df THE 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, of St. Louis, April 23, 1865, 



BY 



REV. SAMUEL J. NICCOLLS. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



ST. LOUIS = 
SHEEMAN SPENCER, PRINTER. NO. 28 MARKET STREET. 

1865. 



I2ST MEMOIRIA-M- 



DISCOUESE 

ON THE ASSASSINATION OF 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

f tttfbnt *f the 3lteftetf £iato> 

DELIVERED IN THE 

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, of St. Louis, April 23d, 1865, 



REV. SAMUEL J. NICCOLLS. 



PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST. 



ST. LOUISA 
SHERMAN SPENCER, PRINTER. NO. 28 MARKET STREET. 

1865. 



DISCOURSE. 



And it was so that ,11 that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the 
day^t IrSudren oflsrael came up out of the land of Egypt unto tins day: confer of 
it, take advice, and speak your minds. -Judges xix. 30. 

The narrative from which this passage is taken, is one of those 
fearful stories of crime and just retribution which the Spirit of God 
has recorded in His Word— for man's warning and instruction. A 
traveling Israelite passing through the land of Benjamin, was gross- 
ly insulted by some citizens of Gibeah, and his wife made the victim 
of a beastly outrage. The man, in accordance with an eastern 
custom divided her dead body, and sent a part to each tribe in 
Israel, to tell, as no tongue could tell it, the story of his wrong. 
This foul outrage and murder had no parallel in Jewish history, 
and the report of it sent a thrill of horror through the hearts of 
the people, and awoke universal indignation. Gathering them- 
selves together as one man, they demanded of the tribe of Benjamin 
the persons of the murderers, that they might put them to death, 
and thus purge Israel of this wickedness. But Benjamin refused, 
and so defending and sympathizing with the murderers, became 
Implicated in their guilt. Thus this crime, though actually com- 
mitted by a few, became one of national interest, and was followed 
by the most momentous consequences. 

The passage recording its dreadful character might now, with 
a few verbal alterations, be transcribed in American history. Lately 
there has come to us the report of a deed so dark and damning in 
its character, that one might well be excused for thinking it too 
horrible to be true. It fell upon us in the midst of our joy, like a 
clap of thunder from a serene and sunlit sky. We were as one 
staggered by a sudden blow, and went to our homes that woeful 
day, struck dumb with horror and amazement. And well might 
it be so, for when Abraham Lincoln fell bleeding from that vale 



apon, a deed was committed, which for infamy and 

ands without a parallel in our history. Not in the re- 

o modern times but in the bloody annals of barbarous days, 

when I ; ' ; " ;; "assy's knife were the favorite instruments 

of tyrants and traitors, must wo look to find a crime which does 
not seem like a virtue, when compared with this unnatural murder. 
We are humiliated when we hear the dreadful story repeated; for 
mingled with sorrow for the dead, and indignation against the'per- 
; etrators of the act, there is a sense of shame oppressing every true 
heart, thai such a deed should stain our country's history. We feel 
as some proud father, when he learns that a vile adulterer has 
robbed him of his honor, by blackening with crime the escutcheon 
of his family's purity, handed down to him unsullied through a 
long line of noble ancestors. If the tears of a bereaved nation, if the 
blood of the wretched murderer, and the fears of his guilty accom- 
plices in treason, could purge from our history this dark sin, it 
were soon done. But it admits of no atonement, no palliation, 
it is one of these great crimes, that stop the pleading of mercy] 
and cry wilh the voice of martyred blood for vengeance. 

"AIM hat have heard of it have said, There was no such deed done 
'""' Beon from ,1 "' day that our fathers came to this land from 
among the nation, until this day: consider of it, take advice, and 
speak your minds." 

When theehildren of Israel heard of the crime committed in their 
midst, they gathered themselves onto the Lord in Mjzpeh, and 
went into His bouse to inquire concerning the sin, ami how they 
mighl pin away evil from the nation. Surely (hen, brethren anil 
countrymen, it is b,,t proper conformity to a wise example for ... 
to come in',, the Banctuary of the Lord, ami consider, as in His 

; ' •■""' through the teaching of Eie word, bow we may pur 
ourselves of the evil thai bas dishonored our land ami thrown r 
P roach : V"" ,l '" name of a christian people. Xav more, for the 
pulpil to keep ailenoe while the hand of violence was committing 
crimes in our laud who recital freezes the blood, would bea 

Ba d : "" 1 criminal dereliction in duty. It wo, .hi be to pro-,, false to 
""' command of Him who bids us •• Pen der to Cesar the thi 
"'•' ll :,IV ' rell as "to God the things thai are God's," 



unci to proclaim the preaching of the gospel such a sublimated 
thing, that while ministers talk of heaven and justification by faith, 
traitors and parricides, calling themselves christians, may practice 
unrebuked in our midst, such deeds as make humanity blush for 
shame. But God forbid that I should so learn Christ, or so preach 
Him among you. The same command that bids every minister 
<*o and preach the gospel of God's atoning love, also charges him 
to "touch men to observe all things whatsoever" Christ has com- 
manded; and who will say, with His word before him, that Christ 
has not commanded the practice of those moral, social, and political 
virtues, the want of which even paganism condemned as a sm ; or 
that He permits His people to connive at those crimes which, be- 
fore His coming, the universal sentiment of mankind judged worthy 
of death to the perpetrators. It might be said that such deeds as 
this when horror is still fresh to us, need no greater denunciation 
than their announcement, since they damn themselves m their 
commission. So one unacquainted with the depravity of the times 
nfcht think j but what must he say when he learns that there are 
hundreds, even in our own community, who have openly approved 
the deed, and that thousands of others, while they have barely 
conscien e enough to condemn the murderous act, do yet rejoice m 
he death of him whose loss we mourn-what can he say other than 
this • that either those who feel thus are in their measure partici- 
pators in the crime, and guilty of wickedness that makes them 
most infamous, or that the victim of the assassin, on account of 
Scr me and misdeeds, deserved his fate. Such are the al erna- 
tos! which the consideration of that deed of violence, enacted in 
tho national capital, presses upon us. 

bconsTderingthom lot me ask, did Abraham Lincoln deserve 
t0 Was he a tyrant 1 Pardon me, my mourning countrymen 
that I 'should for a moment apply that title to him who washed to 
be absolute in nothing, save in the power to forgive. 

Often it has happened that men usurping the P°™ * r ^ 






cental pities men as to unfit him for his , rust, and givethe K ood 
^ reason to rejoice in his removal? Today, when sorrowing mil- 
lions are deploring his loss, when a stricken nation is enshrining his 
^«y Md J««tenetogivehimthead, due to heroes and 

thesaviours of their country, and when history has already added 
bis name to the roll of the noble army of martyrs-who Ls the 

ementy to become his detractor? Eewasnotoi f those charac 

te ™>^om revolutions make notorious by casting them up to the 
*™e>and whose greatness is m0 re fortuitous than merited.- 
<*od,who is uever al a loss for instruments to do His will and 

™ eVer ^ ork8in ^chawayastosetatnaughtthep 
had given him such training and gifts as qualified him, in a pecu- 
liar manner, for his great mission in this transitional era of our 
^ Bt0 Y; Drawn oat from the midstof the people, he w', ,,d 

' ,y V V "" ip ^eir trials and toils to sympathize with them 
'» heir bloody, and, it is to be hoped, lasl 3 truggle in this 
land > a S ains1 oppression and aristocratic privilege \- a citi 
ze Mhe whole course of his private life wa S marked by such sin- 
nt ^ and fi^lity to principle, as to make his name a proverb of 
h0r ' Al|,! iM his P ubIi c career the closesl scrutiny of his 
enemies failed to discover one just accusation against his integrity 
re was the secret of his greal popularity with the people : and 
in Uns [ay his firsl qualification for his difficult position The 
" l "" ,v ""- v ofthe times demanded that a degree of power should 
be conferred on him, which had been given to no other President- 

menfe11 Bafe in committing their most precious earthly inh, 
l *ance into his pure hands. Suspicion of the Chief Magistrate 

u d have been almosl fatal to us in certain p of the eoun 

"• S > tru 8S ]e '> l "" 8u °h washisadmii jrity, thai it always 

ttrraed resentment, even when men were di d with his 

enial, and with a frankness thai 
V"" ""'" ^art, there were few who approached him, 

'' prejudiced againsl him, bu1 went away filled with a< ra- 

rtheman,and reaped for his sincerity. Eis conscienti 
^peculiar lustre to his character, and as carried out in the 
"' ,1 " ' his nameworthy to be written by 

'thatoftheFatherofh C. ntiy. He is great, because 



he was true, for no matter how extraordinary a life may appear, let 

us suspect the actor's sincerity, and it loses all merit in our eyes. 
We have, to-day, reason to thank God that in these dark times, 
when the perjury and dishonesty of our public men had weakened 
confidence in our government, and brought us to the verge of ruin, 
He placed the helm of public affairs in the hands of an honest and 

just man. 

Among his moral qualities, not the least prominent was his 
faith in God. Like all true servants of the Most High, he was 
conscious of the greatness of his responsibility, and his touching 
request to his friends and neighbors, at the time of his departure 
for the scene of his future work and martyrdom, shows where he 
was looking for help. Prayer and meditation of the Divine word 
were not occasional, but constant duties with him ; and it was 
from his trust in God that he derived his consolation and fortitude 
in his darkest hours. Well do I remember his appearance, as, with 
quivering lip and tearful eye, in that very room where his body 
lay in woeful state, he told a company of clergymen who came to 
express their prayerful sympathy, how he valued the prayers of 
christians, and that when everything was dark around him, his 
only refuge had been the " mercy seat." 

Belying implicitly on God's wisdom and goodness, and believing 
that he was laboring in the holy cause of liberty and just govern- 
ment, "he looked danger in the face with a smile, and endured the 
incessant toils of his high place, with a serenity that was almost 

superhuman." 

Nor was there wanting in him that quality, which, going hand 
in hand with justice and truth, makes the ruler godlike-sweet 
mercy, 

< < mightiest in the mighty ; it becomes 

The throned monarch better than his crown.' ' 

His generous heart could harbor no resentment, and cherish no 
sentiments of revenge. It pleased him better to pardon than to 
punish, and to overcome his and the country's enemies by trans- 
forming them into friends. Alas ! that so gentle a heart must be 
driven from earth by the hand of murder. His intellectual quali- 
ties, though not of the highest order of genius, were such as, beyond 
all question, gave him a peculiar capacity for the duties oi his 






office, guick in hi, perception*, and of a keen logical mind, Ida 
good sense, conjoined with his sterling integrity, served him better 
m extremity than diplomacy. His knowledge of human nature 

was profound, and it was from men and their actions more than 
from any theory of law or ethics, that he drew his argument* and 
illustrations of policy. I do not forget, while commending his vir- 
tues, that he had enemies who bitterly denounced him, for his Uf e 
was no exception to the great law that those who stand for right- 
eousness and truth, must "suffer persecution", and be reviled 
falsely. Strange would it have been, in a war with Slavery, if the 
author of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the great represen- 
tative of Freedom, had been treated otherwise. It has been charged 
[ftinst him, as the most culpable of his faults, that he was light 
and frivolous at times. It is not a little remarkable that the same 
aecusation was made against two illustrious characters in history, 
to who,,., in many respects, the hue President bore a marked re' 
semblance. It is said of Cromwell, the lather of English liberty, 
that his intercourse with his fn.-n.is was full of cordiality. 11.. has 
been reproached with a loudness for buffoonery; "hut we must 
<•< ooUect/ J says hie biographer, « that such a characteristic trait is 
often found in the mosl christian and truly serious nun." The 
same charge was brought against William, Prince of Orange, whom 
<>"• Hollanders love to call -the father of his country;" a man 

wh,r '■■• '•'■^'•"'^ fidelity, pur., patriotism, singular magoanimity, 

and tragie death by the pistol of an assassin in the I • of bis 

country's deliverance, afford the nearest parallel in history, to the 
onaracterand fete of our lamented Chief Magistrate. And, in an- 
swer to the same charge, may wenol aayofthe latter martyr, what 
the historian haswritten ofthe former? « I„ the darkest hour oi 
his country's trial, he often affected a serenity he was far from 
feeling, so thai his apparent gayety,a1 momentous epochs, was even 
censured bj dullards, who could uol comprehend its philosophy 
aor applaud the flippancy of William the silent." 

Such are some of the characteristics of the man who, until a few 
daj ' .11 the seal of Washington, the honored head of a 

,m -'". v ••'•I" 1, ' ;; "- H, m rfect,bul groat and • I i„ face 

'" h,< ,m l' rr! ' ' V(l - looking al I nctcr in the trans- 



forming light of death, which so strangely turns the blemishes into 

shadows, and thus brings out more perfectly the beauties of the 
life picture, it is difficult to see what we could alter without also 
affecting the perfection of his work for this people. Called to pre- 
side over the destinies of the nation in the most stormy and event- 
ful period of its life, he stood faithfully and conscientiously at his 
post, and at last saw his policy not only endorsed by the people 
in his re-election, but vindicated by success. Like Moses of old, he 
had led the people through the wilderness of trial, and already saw 
with glad eyes the green hill tops and smiling valleys of the land 
of peace and rest. AYith thoughts of mercy, and intent on peace, 
he was preparing to lead us to its full fruition, when suddenly, 
like the breath of frost to the blossoms of spring, there came these 
tidings to pall our hopes and turn universal joy into mourning — he 
is dying. Did we not all see the dreadful sight, — the bed of death 
with its stilled grief, the'noblo form motionless, save that its breast 
heaved to the laboring breath — grave senators with faces bathed 
in tears — sobs that come from the adjoining room — the noiseless 
attendants — the anxious surgeons watching the tremor of the 
waning pulse ? And soon, like a knell heard throughout the wide 
land, went the message, he is dead. Yes, dead ! my countrymen. 
Foully murdered by the hand of treason ! " Help, Lord, for the 
godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail among the children of 
men." Oh ! day of horror and awful judgment ! when, in an in- 
stant, the bright sky of our joy is hung with clouds of woe. From 
border to border and sea to sea, the land mourns. It is as if a 
corpse lay in every homestead. Business is suspended. Grief 
makes every true heart throb heavily. Men grasp each other by 
the hand, made brothers in sorrow, and heart speaks its sympathy 
to heart in expressive silence, or through falling tears. Such was 
the man, and such his throne in the hearts of the people, whom 
murder and treason, 

" Two yoke devils sworn to eithcr's purpose," 

singled out among others as the first victim for the assassin's blow. 
Good, noble, faithful in the trust committed to his hands, and 
standing at the hour of his death like a minister of mercy pleading 
for the pardon of the guilty, did he deserve to die:'' "No, verily! 



JO 

' lie halli borna Ilia fucultiuti *<i Uie&k, UnlU LieOK 

So clear in u\< great office, that his virtues 

Do plead like angels, trumpet- tongued, against 

The deep damnation of his taking off." 
» »h ! ii wore easy to give this deed a voice thai would arouse a 
(in-! of good and loyal men, like a trumpet's call to arms, each 
one burning with righteous indignation to send the guilty murder- 
er and his traitorous participants, unshrived of their damning sin, 
to the judgment bar of God. It were easy to do thisj u>r such 
deeds arc to the passions of men, like Die breath of the tempest to 
the waves of the sea. They arouse the awful slumbering sent 
justice in (he heart. They turn the milk of human kindness into 
gall ; and for once forgetting that God is merciful, we rejoice that 
lie is JU8t. 

But let us consider this deed calmly, and speak our minds, not 
under the impulse of vindictive passion, but as Christians and pa- 
triots, in view of Our duty to God and our country. An event like 
this, though brought about by the hand of violence, and covering 
us perpet rators with eternal infamy, did not come by chance. < rod 
reigns, and the counsels of the wicked are ever made subservu nt 
to !lis greal and glorious designs. lie, whose power none can re- 
sist, and whose wisdom it is impiety to question, has permitted 
this calamity to fall upon us. It would he rash to Bay that we 
fully understand its teachings, while as yet, the design is only 
partially unfolded. God's judgments are " a great deep," and lie 
alone adequately interprets them in the progress of history. But 
still, though dark, they are always light enough to guide u-> in 

nt duty. So \i\< word teaches -" Hear ye the rod and who 

bat Ii appointed it." 

First of all and naturally, this dark deed calls our attention to 
iiilty perpetrators, and the treason which for four years has 
b< on deluging the land in blood. As yet, the full extent of the 
conspiracy has not been divulged. We onlj know, that a 

others, th< '■■■ ivas one, born in sin and trained in the •• cl ' of 

vice," a depra * ed actor, a mock king and patriot ot 

entative of Lheempty, vaporing, strutting "chivalry" and 
spurious patrioti m, that gave itself a willing Bcrvant to do the 
dark behosts of Slavery thai Ihcre wai our pro-eminent in guill, 



II 

whose hands are red with the blood of the martyred dead, and 
whose brow has on it the mark of Cain. He flies ; but the earth 
is not wide enough to hide the wretched fugitive, and mankind 
will not sleep while he lives. But his punishment will not still the 
voice of blood that cries from the ground. Let none mistake the 
bearing of this crime, or attempt to disconnect it from its proper 
origin. Men are, indeed, depraved ; but such crimes and conspir- 
acies as Ibis can no more come forth to blast society, without 
some antecedent evil sentiment in which they originated, and by 
which they were fostered, than the pestilential vapors which hang 
over the valleys, and bring down heaven's fiery bolt upon the pure 
mountain tops, can rise up without corruption and decay on the 
plain beneath. It logically belongs to the work of rebellion and 
treason j and when history makes its dreadful arraignments of 
those who engaged and sympathized in 'the attempted destruction 
of the freest and best government on the face of the earth, last, 
but not least among their crimes, will be written, as in letters of 
blood, the assassination of the noble, just, faithful, and merciful 
President of the Republic. Some may attempt to deny the responsi- 
bility ; but he who cast the spark into the magazine, and those 
who encouraged him in the deed, are all, in their measure, responsi- 
ble for the explosion. It is idle to deny the fact that multitudes 
of the more ignorant and thoughtless among those who desired the 
success of rebellion, rejoice in this murder; while the more 
thoughtful deplored it, because it was rash and untimely. Is it 
not also a fact, that could this dark deed bring back to life the 
djdng rebellion, the mourning of many would be turned into great 
joy ? Is not this crime, beyond all question, alike in its origin and 
purpose to the deeds and wishes of armed traitors in our land ? 
That which gives it pre-eminence in enormity above any ordinary 
murder, is the fact that it was done to the person of the Chief 
Magistrate as such ; and that the hellish plot of which it was a 
part, embraced the destruction of the chief men of the nation, that 
the nation itself might be destroyed. It was an attempt at the 
assassination of the national life. It was mad and foolish; but not 
more so than the attack on Fort Sumter and not more wicked, so 
far as the'purpose was concerned. If you deem the causeless and 



12 

criminal rebellion of the South justifiable, then, while you condemn 
the murderer, you must justify the death of the Presidenl ; for to 
him, as the representative of : ! le, you must attribute the 

greal wrong of crushing the power of Slavery. But, in view of 
ation, his pure patriotism, and th< Beal of 
approval which God in His providence has placed upon I 
preserve the lil anity of our country, who is so losl and 

blinded by sin ae to accept the alternative '.' 

This, it seems to me, is the first greal lesson to be learned from 
i his sad and mysterious i rent, a le 9on of warning and a call to 
repentance for those who have been engaged, either by deed or 
desire, in aiding the work of rebellion. When Ave wish to teach 
men the awful nature of sin again si the government of God, we 
lead them to the cross of Christ, thai they may see its consequen- 
ces in Eis vicarious sufferings j and in accordance with the same 
principle, may not the bleeding form of the greal martyr for the 
cause of civil liberty and order, teach thousands who have been 
led away into mad rebellion, the true nature and results of their 
crime ? Such, 1 believe, is its design, and such will be its effect. 
Men can now judge this greal conspiracy against human rights 
and just government, by its fruits. God has, in the permission of this 
deed of murder, written thelasl sentence in Eis lesson to traitors. 
Ife has completed the picture warning them of guilt, and now he 
in il<! it before them for the reclaiming of those who can be saved. 
Id its horrors! It is a land of peace and plenty suddenly 
transformed into a wide battle fiold. Frauds and robberies begin 
thechange. Senators, with their oath- of allegiance fresh upon 
their I beir blind followers tomadness. 

[ike, when nol a hot had beon tired, or a dec! done to 
arouse their I , they i saull the sovereignty of the nation. 

Suddenly the plagues of war are let loose; armies march to meet 
in dreadful conflict, and fields already fertile are glutted with hu- 
man blood. Fire and sword overturn the monuments of industry, 
u bile plunder and rapine impoverish alike the loyal ami the false ; 
ruined, plain- desolated, ami to\\ de acked and consigned 
to the flames. The scene ] i. Thcmarfr Irisefrom 

•ip hy with t he t read of vim 01 -. crj 



13 

Sing with the voice of the souls under the altar in heaven, slain by 
treason ! The prisons are opened and their wan, haggard captives 
lift up their skeleton hands, and with dying accents, whisper 
through their shriveled lips, starved by treason ! A long procession 
of weepirtg widows and orphans pass by in habiliments of woe, 
each separate sob swelling the great accusation that goes up in a 
cloud of sighs to the throne of a just Clod, bereaved by treason ! And 
last of all there comes a stately form, pale as death. He stands in 
silence, lest his great loving heart should even now falter in the 
charge ; but his ghastly wound cries with the voice of inno- 
cent blood, murdered by treason ! This is the record of trea- 
son and rebellion. It is now complete. The last warning is 
given, and God's voice, to all who have been led astray by passion 
and prejudice, so that they have inadvertently become implicated 
in all this guilt, is, " Come out of this Babylon ; purge yourselves of 
her sins, that ye be not partakers of her plagues." Now the mill- 
stone of His wrath is lifted up, and a mighty angel will hurl it to a 
swifter fall. It is heavy with the wrongs of the innocent, and with 
the woes of a bleeding land, and when it falls, as tail it will, upon 
the obstinately guilty, who are defiled with oppression and drunken 
with the wine of their wickedness, it shall hurl them to the depths 
of shame and everlasting contempt; for strong is the Lord God 
who judgeth them, and such shall ever be the reward of those who 
would betray the interests of humanity and call evil good, in the 
name of the Lord. 

We all, as patriots interested in the future of our country, 
and as Christians caring for the interests of the church 
and the welfare of humanity, desire the preservation of the Union. 
It was for this purpose that we fought the armies of rebellion on so 
many bloody battle fields, and gave life and treasure without stint. 
Armed resistance to law, which stood in the way of peace, is now, 
through the blessing of God, broken and crushed. But after this 
there is another obstacle to the restoration of harmony which the 
bayonet cannot remove. It is the bitterness and stubbornness of 
unsubdued hearts — unsubdued because they are not penitent ; and 
may not this event, so horrible in its nature, be God's providence 
to remove that obstacle ? When those who engaged in rebellion 



14 

[earn that they have slain their best friend — not that he sympa- 
thized with them in their sin, but that ho was the noble represen- 
tative of a paternal government, ever ready to pour I , and 
curves, upon them — must it not awaken sorrow for their course, 
and a renunciation of the past? Surely, my friends, a nan who 
will hereafter affiliate with such a cause, horn in perjury, stained 
in Its history with deeds of barbarity that seem almost incredible, 
and blackened in its dying hours by a murder without parallel in 
enormity, proves himself a traitor a' heart, and unworthy of the 
pity orrespeel of the good. Would to God, then, that ail who have 
been led away by this great wickedness, would save their own 
manhood, and their country future woe, by an open confession of 
their mistake and sin. There is a false consistency about crime, 
which, in this case, leads many to try to escape from the past, DOl 
i\ a frank acknowledgment of their error, but by becoming "con- 
Bervativi ." as it is called. Conservatism is always good ; hut do1 
the conservatism born of treason and allied to it. Itisnoblerl 
to c mfess a wrong i hide or palliate it. The real humil- 
lies in tl • m>t in abandoning it. Let, then, 
I who have been led astray into this gigantic wrong, purge 
themselves of it ; and if, even al this eleventh hour, those who 
. or oppose us in our efforts to maintain the holy 
cause lorn and law, shon in and confess it, none 
should be more ready to applaud their course and receive them 

joy, than ; Ihristians, over who-. 

h< angels in heaven rejoiced. But if there is in 
arning and a call for repentance to b and 
i countrymen, who have Labored bo earnestly to i 
their own ruin, th< 'e Is also something for the loyal and true, who 
been faithful to their country in the hour of peril. It calls 
ived d< to thai greal cause for which Abraham Lin- 
coln .. ' pare no effort, and give ourselves do 
until the f< il spirit thu ira Is banished from our land back 
to the depth of il hell, [t calls upon every man to consider 
how, asi 1 from hi - ordinary dul L< a as a citizen, he may besl com- 
plete his country, and secure the perm: 
triumph of liberty and justice. Thi- last flow of rebellion has 



15 

given un measured strength to the nation, for no true patriot can 
look upon the lifeless form of the great martyr for liberty, without 
feeling his heart beat with a stronger, purer, and more enduring 
determination to sustain and defend her cause against every foe. 
True, the living man is gone, — removed when we seemed to need 
him most; but the power of his life is the rich legacy he has left 
his country. No ! he is not lost to us. " A truly great man, when 
heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burn- 
ing brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning dark- 
ness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant li^ht, 
with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind, so that 
when it goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world 
all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit." The 
malice of his foes has but placed Abraham Lincoln upon a loftier 
height of glory, from which no change of time can cast him down; and 
the nation shall ever hear his voice, above the noise of party strife, 
calling upon it to make common cause against all treason, and to 
maintain, with christian charity and fidelity, the rights and liberties 
of all. 

May not this sad event, also, teach us a lesson concerning a duty 
which has been sadly overlooked by many professing Christians ? 
It is to give proper honor to the persons of our rulers. It is a 
scriptural injunction ; but many read it as if it had no application 
to our form of government, and act as if republican liberty gave 
them the right to heap every dishonoring epithet on those in au- 
thority. "We have regarded our rulers, not as ministers of law 
appointed by God, but as the representatives of parties ; and need 
we wonder, that under such training, treason found many educated 
to its fearful service. But is it not remarkable, and a proof that 
God has, in a measure, purified us, that he who was called a " sec- 
tional" president, should be carried to his grave, mourned for as a 
father by the whole land ? And must not the horror we have felt 
at the deed of the murderer, in assaulting his person, sacred to us 
because the symbol of law, restrain us in the future from " speaking- 
evil of dignitaries " for vile and partisan purposes '.' 

Finally, let this national bereavement, like the bereavement that 
tills a household with mourning when the honored father is removed 



16 



turn the thoughts of the people to Him, who, in Hisall-wise provi- 
dence permitted it. We cannot, indeed, perfectly understand His 
.-work; butitsomuchresemblesall Hie mighty deeds among 
as during the past four years, thai we are ready to receive il In 
fche ,,., iu , r thai it will speedily be overruled for our good. Che 
blood of the martyrs of liberty, like that of the martyrs of the 
pel has ever strengthened the cause for which it was Bhed; and 
eve'ry attempt of man to thwart the purposes of God in history, has 
bn1 has tened their fulfillment. Let, then, the deliverance of the 
past as well as the darkness and sorrow of the present, lead us to 
a more humble trust in God, and faith in His purposes. Without 
such a belief underlying all its institutions, no nation ean be truly 
great, or continue free and pure. Godlessness will ruin the liber- 
ties of any land. But to know that the Lord is (iod, to feel our 
responsibility to Him, to recognize His hand in the march of human 
affairs,-this is life, life to nations, as well as to individuals. 
To this end God has been disciplining us, and because of this, we 
m ay rejoice withahope -full of glory." Ours shall be a land re- 
^ed and disenthralled from every sin-a nation humbled, puri- 
fied andknit together by such memories and glorious hopes a 
..J, ,„ Q0 tber people-anation whose Godis the Lord. Let as, in 
the midsl of present sorrows, rejoice in the assurance of faith in our 
destiny; for, even now we stand Hke Israel at the banks of the Jordan, 
,„, fch e borders of our new inheritance. And when we crossover, 
wh ,„ 0M bleeding feel press the green sod of the land ol peace, 
when , standing in its pure light, we shall turn to review these da; 
of conflicl and doubt and pain, then, I doubt not, this dark present 
win furni8h one of the brightest proofs of God's living wisdom. 

Th en we shall know that all our wav, like the exodus oi old, U 

one abounding m manifestations of the g Iness ana power oi 

God tli:itlt wa8 the march by which a free people were led up to 

dominion and prepared to give liberty and law to the wl arth. 

[n this hope we will fejoice j for in that day, my countrymen, whose 
dawningwe -navnow ,ee, this glorious banner, no longer draped 
in mourning, but flung to the breeze, and purified from everyrtam 
of dishonor, shall be the true emblem of gospel liberty, and he 
Bymb ol of the freest, stronge t,and mo I Christian oation on the 

Of the -'arth. 



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